Railway-rail fastener



E. A. KEHN.

RAILWAY RAIL FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8, 1919.

1,346,965. Patented July 20, 1920.

HEEI 2L 1 ayoidward fielm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. KEHN, 0F DENVER, COLORADO.

RAILWAY-RAIL FASTENER.

Application filed. February 8, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. KEEN, a c tizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rail Fasteners; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

.My invention relates to improvements in means for securing railway rails to the ties in constructions where the latter are formed of metal, concreteor other suitable material. The novel feature of my invention consists in the employment of a member which is preferably composed of metal, there being two of these members for each tie, each rail crossing one of the members at the center, the two members of each tie being so spaced that each member carriesthe fastening devices of the adjacent rail. These two members positioned as above indicated may be formed integral with a metal tie, or they may be embedded in a concrete body or otherwise connected or secured to a body member of suitable material. In other words,.the rail-fastening members may form parts ofa composite tie or parts of an entire I metal tie, in which event they may be integral with the body member, or otherwise suitably connected therewith.

The fastening devices have off-set heads which engage the base of the rail on opposite sides, each fastening device having a similar offset head at each end except that one of these offset members has its face somewhat farther away from its .adj acent shoulder than the offset head at the other end, so that when one of the offset heads is uppermost,

the offset head of the fastener closely engages the base of the rail, while when the other extremity is uppermost, the offset head extends sufficiently above the base of the rail to make room for the outwardly projecting part of an angle-.bar fish-plate. In other words, when my improvement is located at the joint formed by two rails, the fastening devices are ina positionthe reverse from that whichobtains when my improvement is arranged between the joints of the rails.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1920.

Serial No. 275,735.

Iaving briefly outlined my improvement, I will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof. In this drawing:

Figure 1 is a central, vertical, longitudinal section of one of my improved rail-fastening members, illustrating the same in use, and located between the rail joints.

Fig.2 is a similar view, showing one of these members located at a joint and employed in connection with angle-bar fishplates used in forming the joint.

Fig. 3 illustrates one of the rail fastening devices shown in three positions, designated by the numerals, 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and which will be referred to as first, second and third positions.

Fig. 4 is a central, vertical, longitudinal section taken through one of the tie members with the'rail fastening devices removed.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the same, or a view looking in the direction of arrows 5, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a cross section taken on the line 66, Fig. 5 viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 7 is a cross section taken through one of the tie members on the line 7-7, Fig. 2, looking toward the left and showing the tie member embedded in a concrete tie body or road bed. i

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate one of my improved tie members which is chambered as shown at 6, on opposite sides of a central part 7, which is of sufficient width to correspond with that of the bottom surface of the base 8 of a rail 9. Each chamber or cavity, 6, is open at the .top and closed at the bottom, except for an opening 10, which is provided .to allow moisture to escape which may have entered the cavity. The lower portion of each of these cavities extends inwardly, as shown at 12, fora purpose hereinafter described. The side wall portions 13 of each cavity are offset inwardly from the side walls of the main portions of the cavities 6, thus reducing the width of the parts 14 of the cavities between the two walls 13.

There are two rail fastening devices 15 employed in connection with each end of the tie member 5, one of these devices engaging the base of the rail on each side. Each of these rail fastening devices has a shank, 16, and two heads, which I, will designate by the numerals 17 and 18 respectively. The shank 16 is of less width than theheads of the fastener, forming laterally disposed shoulders 19 011 one head and similar shoulders 20 011 the other head. The heads 17 and 18 have inwardly offset parts 21 and 22, one of which is always adapted to engage the base of the rail, 01' the outwardly projecting part of an angle-bar fish-plate. The face 23 of-the offset part 21 is vertically offset from the shoulders 19 of the fastener, somewhat farther than the corresponding face 2 1- of the head 18, in order to make room for the part 25, of an angle-bar fishplate, 26, when my improvement is employed at a rail joint. Hence, when a tie member is employed at a rail joint, the head 17 of the fastener will be uppermost, while when the tie member is employed between the joints, the head 18 will be uppermost. Hence, in the former case the face 23 will be in position to engage the part 25 of the fish-plate (see Fig. 2), whilein the latter case the face 24- will be in position to directly engage the base of the rail (as shown in Fig. 1). In either case, one set of shoulders,

19 or 20, will engage cooperating bottom shoulders, 27, of the tie member formed by the inwardly and laterally inset walls, 13,

thus preventingany vertical movement of the fastening devices when the parts are assembled. \Vhen the fastening devices are employed at the joint and in cooperation with angle-bar fish-plates 26, the shoulders 20 of'the fastening devices will engage the shoulders 27 of the tie member, while when the fasteners are employed between the joints the shoulders 19 of the fastening device will engage the shoulders 27 of the tie member. When one-set of shoulders of my fastening device engages the shoulders 27 of a tie member, the opposite set of shoulders of the fastening device will bearranged adjacent the oppositely located top parts 28 of the tie member.

hen the parts are assembled, the offset parts at one end of each pair of fastening devices extend into the parts 12 of the cavities or chambers, 6, of the tie member, as best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The

fastening devices are held securely in place for the performance of their rail-securing function by means of wedge blocks 29, which are inserted in the larger portions of the respective cavities 6 .of each tie member. In order to make it practicable to remove the fastening devices of any tie member, I preferably form each wedge block with a small recess 30, which is in communication with a recess 81, formed in the body portion of the tie member so that a tool may be introduced into the recess 31 and its point caused to engage a shoulder at the upper extremity of the recess 30, the tool thus forming a lever and being of sufficient length to enable the operator to lift the wedge block vertically. hen the wedge blocks are removed, the fastening devices 15 may, of course, be taken out of the tie member, whereby the rail may be released.

Each cavity 6 extends somewhat below the lower extremity of each wedge block, and the lower extremity of each fastening device, as shown at 32, in order to facilitate the drainage of moisture through the openings 10, and prevent such moisture from remaining in contact with the fastening devices and wedge blocks.

.In Fig. 7 the tie member is shown embedded in concrete, 33, or similar material, which originally is in a plastic condition, and within which the tie members may be molded if desired, each tie member in this event being provided with a base, 34, of somewhat greater width than its upper portion, whereby shoulders, 35, are formed to facilitate the securing of the tie member in the concrete after the latter has hard.

From the foregoing description, the use of my rail fastening means will be readily understood.

Assuming that the rail is in position on the, tie member 5, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the fastening devices 15 will be first put in place with their heads 18 uppermost, whereby their faces 2% will directly engage the adjacent parts of the base 8 of the rail. After this is done, the wedge blocks are put in place and the rail will be securely held where it crosses the tie member. Again, if the tie member is employed at a rail oint,

ment of the fastening devices whereby the rail is held securely in place after the wedge blocks are put in position. The fastening devices 15 may, if desired, be relied upon to hold the angle-bar fish-plates in position at a rail joint, though it is probable that the fish plates will ordinarily be secured by nuts, and bolts in the usual manner, and as illustrated in Fig. 2. p

In further explanation of Fig. 3, I will explain that the position designated by the numeral 1 is a side elevation of one of the rail fastening devices; that the position des ignated by the numeral 2 is a view looking at the device in the first position in the direction of arrow 0, while the position designated by the numeral 3 is a view looking at the first position in the direction of the arrow 0.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A railway rail fastener, including a chambered tie member and fastening devices occupying the chambered portion of the tie member, each fastening device having an offset head and an adjacent shoulder at its opposite extremities, the offset parts of the heads serving to retain the rail in place, the face adjacent the rail of one of the heads being removed vertically beyond its shoulder farther than the corresponding face of the other head, to compensate for the thickness of the angle-bar at the rail joint.

2. 'A railway rail fastener, comprising a chambered tie member, fastening devices and cooperating wedge blocks, each fastening devicehaving an offset head and an adjacent shoulder at its opposite extremities, the off set parts of the heads serving to retain the rail in place, the face adjacent the rail of one of the heads being removed vertically beyond its shoulder farther than the corresponding face of the other head to compensate for the thickness of the angle bar at the rail joint, the wedge blocks also occupying the chambered portion of the tie member and serving to hold the fastening devices in place.

3. In an appaartus of the class described, the combination of a chambered tie member and fastening devices occupying the chambered portion of said member, each fastening device having an offset head and an adjacent shoulder at its opposite extremities, the offset'parts of the heads serving to retain the rail in place, the face adjacent the rail of one of the heads of each fastening device being removed vertically beyond its shoulder farther than the corresponding face of the other head to compensate for the thickness of the angle bar at the rail joint,

the lower portions of the chambered part of the tie member extending ii vardly to make room for the offset portions of the head at the lower extremities of the fastening devices.

4. A tie member, having a central rail base-engaging part and being chambered on opposite sides thereof to receive rail-fastening devices, the chambered portions adjacent the rail base-engaging part being reduced in width to form bottom shoulders.

5. A rail-fastener, having heads at its opposite ends, each head being provided with a portion offset in one direction, the shank between the heads being reduced to form a shoulder adjacent each head extending in a different direction from the adjacent offset portion.

6. A rail fastener, having heads at its opposite ends, respectively, provided with offset portions, the shank between the heads being reduced in size to form shoulders adjacent the heads, the face of one of the offset portions being farther removed beyond its shoulder in the direction of the length of the fastener than the corresponding face of the opposite portion.

7. A railway rail fastener, comprising a chambered tie member, fastening devices and cooperating wedge blocks, the fastening devices occupying spaces in the tie member and having offset heads arranged in opposing relation on opposite sides of the rail, and having shoulders which engage cooperating shoulders formed on the tie member to lock the fastening devices against upward movement, the wedge blocks also occupying the chambered portion of the tie and serving to hold the fastening devices in place, the tie member having narrow, shallow cavities at the top, and the wedge blocks containing recesses in communication with said cavities, to receive a tool for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EDWARD A. KE-HN. 

